Headteacher: Anna Moss

30.06.23

Hello Red Class Families,

Kenilworth Castle

We started the week with our trip to Kenilworth Castle. We toured Leicester’s Gatehouse and spotted key features, for example, Robert Dudley’s initials carved into the fireplace. We also climbed steps that were over 900 years old. After lunch in the castle grounds, we shared a story about George the Dragon and filmed our country dance with the castle as the backdrop. Finally, we climbed the steps of Leicester’s Building and admired the view! Well done, Red Class, it was a really lovely day.

New Topic

On Monday, we start our new topic, ‘On the Farm’. Our class assembly will be the project for this topic. As well as our class assembly, the children will prepare for a whole school (children only) festival. More details about this event will follow soon.

Goodbye Mrs Thomas

Next week, will be Mrs Thomas’s last week at Blackwell as a teacher. The children have really enjoyed working with Mrs Thomas this year and many of them will know her from their Nursery days too. In September, Mrs Thomas will be teaching her own Nursery class in a new school. We wish her every success. Mrs Thomas’s last day is Thursday, 6^th July.

Bromsgrove School Trip – Skateboard and Scootering Festival

On Tuesday, 4^th July we’re off to Bromsgrove School to finely tune our skateboard and scootering skills. The children will change into their PE kits at school and packed lunches will be provided by the Blackwell Kitchen. Please pack a water bottle, sun hat and snack. Depending on the weather, please apply sun cream in the morning and pack a waterproof coat. Please send the children into school with their rucksack again (this worked really well last time) and leave book bags/ school books at home.

Summer Fair

Finally, it’s the summer fair tomorrow. The children have made Union Jack inspired trinket pots. They can be purchased from the school produce stall. If you can’t make the fair, we’ll keep the pot and a donation can be sent into school. Hopefully, I’ll see lots of children on the obstacle course tomorrow!

Best wishes, Mrs Webb and Team Red Class

23.06.23

Hello Red Class Families,

Mark Riley

At the beginning of the week, Red Class worked with Mark Riley to create a piece of artwork for the back playground. We looked at work by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian artist. He liked to surprise people by adding faces to his paintings, so we did the same. After we created our own pieces of artwork, each child worked with Mr Riley to recreate their image on a whole class board. We can’t wait to see the final result. Thank you, Mr Riley, for inspiring our artwork.

Kenilworth Castle

On Monday, we’ll be visiting Kenilworth Castle. Please bring a rucksack to school to carry your lunch, snack and drink. Mrs Barker and her team will provide a healthy lunch but please pack a healthy snack. Please apply sun cream in the morning and bring a sun hat to school. Make sure you sleep well on Sunday so your listening ears are ready for a good day at school. 

Reading Books and Library Books

We’ll send home individual messages through Parent App (next week), if we’re missing any home reading or library books. Mrs Spurgeon is busily checking through the records as we speak. Some books have been returned from Bromsgrove Library. New eBooks are available to read.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class

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19.05.23

Hello Red Class Families,

This week, we’ve been learning about Alice Rahon. Alice was an artist and a poet. As well as looking at her paintings and talking about some of her work, we’ve developed our own painting skills. We’ve painted thick and thin lines, mixed primary colours and used different tools for painting. The children created pieces of work for their sketchbook and returned to their painting skills in Play and Explore.

The children tried hard to read words ending in -ing, -est and -ed and we also introduced new tricky words: out, today. Mrs Thomas helped us to learn a rhyme about a jumping panda and we changed some of the words to create our own poem. If you’re missing a reading book, please let us know. We change books on Mondays if there is a book in the book bag. New eBooks were assigned today.

In Maths, the children revisited 3D shapes (cylinder, sphere, cube and cuboid) and used 3D shapes to solve problems and create repeating patterns. Try finding and naming 3D shapes at home and create repeating patterns e.g. ball, tube, tube, ball, tube, tube or dice, dice, cereal box, dice, dice, cereal box.

Healthy Snacks

Thank you for packing healthy snacks for lunchboxes and/or snack time. On Sport’s Day the children eat their morning snack on the school field. On this day, please send their snack in a named snack box or write their name on the packet.

Sport’s Day

Sport’s Day will begin at 9.15am on Friday, 26^th May. Families usually arrive just before to find a good spot in the viewing circle (painted on the field). Feel free to bring a picnic blanket or camping chairs as we’ll be busy until 11am. ‘Tea and Toast’ will serve on the school site and at stations on the field. During the morning, Red Class will take part in a range of sporting activities including track races, throw rounders and multi skills. We’ll also watch Blue Class as they take part in their final race at Blackwell. If it’s a sunny day, please send a sun hat into school and apply suncream before the start of the school day.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

28.04.23

Hello Red Class Families,

Firstly, well done for all your wonderful homework. Every child received a sticker for their hard work. We also awarded our first homework certificates. Just a reminder, in preparation for Green Class, children are encouraged to complete a piece of homework each week to support their learning in school, however, it is not compulsory and reading remains the primary focus in Reception. We’re happy for books to be returned by Thursday if extra time is needed.

In Phonics, we continued to read and spell CVCC words with digraphs e.g. shelf, munch and read tricky words too e.g. some, come, love, do. We described characters from ‘The Woodcutter’s Duck’, practised our retell and used ‘sound talk’ skills to write labels and sentences linked to the story.

In Maths, we explored odd and even numbers and revisited ordinal numbers. We formed numerals by starting from the top. Common reversals include 2, 3 and 7. If you practise at home, remember to count this as your topic homework!

In PE, we developed accuracy by hitting a target with an underarm throw. The challenge was to move further away and improve our personal best. In PSHE, we started our work on healthy eating by naming a range of foods, describing healthy snacks and discussing the idea that a little bit of everything is good for you. We even discovered the sugar content in biscuits, cereals and baked beans!

In Music, we practised a special song to perform at our Coronation Family Event on Friday 5^th May. During this event, we will perform our retell at allocated times throughout the afternoon and the rest of the school will be open for families to experience dance, music, stories and artwork. At the end of the afternoon, the whole school choir will perform. We hope you will be able to join us for this celebration.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend and we’ll see you after the Bank Holiday.

Mrs Thomas and Team Red Class x

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21.04.23

Hello Red Class Families,

Welcome to the summer term in Red Class. The children coped well with some changes this week including afternoon clubs, Forest School with older children and a shorter home time routine. I’ve visited the children, each day, in their afternoon clubs and they look happy and settled. Thank you to Mrs Edney, Mrs Birley and Mrs Thomas for all their hard work, in the spring term, to help Red Class make such a smooth transition.

During our first day, we used Dilemma-Based Learning to inspire the children’s talk around their new topic. The children used maps, paintings, diary entries and a film clip to find out about Julia and her life in Poland. We danced to traditional Polish music to experience one of her favourite hobbies.Throughout the morning, the children used each piece of evidence to form opinions, give reasons for their answers and debate ideas around Julia’s life and how her life might change. We will spend the rest of the topic finding out about Kraków and Birmingham as places Julia might like to live.

It's been a busy week, as we started to read and spell CVCC words e.g. tent, sand, belt, wind and introduced new tricky words too e.g. said, so, have, like. A list of tricky words, for this half term, can be found on the class newsletter. In Literacy, we shared the Polish folk tale, ‘The Woodcutter’s Duck’. We’re busy learning a retell of the story to share during the King’s Coronation Celebration. During this event, Friday 5^th May, the children will perform their retell and sing as part of a whole school choir.

In Maths, we used Base Ten equipment to make and understand teen numbers. We also used blank number lines to develop an understanding of number order. Try finding and reading teen numbers in the environment. Can you find a teen number on a front door or a price label?

In Geography (Understanding of the World) lessons, we discovered Poland on the map and talked about the continent of Europe. We described how we would travel to Poland and used Google Earth to find Poland and the city of Kraków. The children wanted to find their school too, so we zoomed into Blackwell.

You will find a homework book in your child’s book bag this afternoon. Topic homework is optional as reading remains the most important part of home learning. Guidance can be found on the inside cover and our class newsletter.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

Red Class homework

Easter Fanfare

Hello Red Class Families,

It’s been a busy term, finding out about transport from the past, entering a writing competition, raising money for local food banks, becoming wake and shake champions and, of course, Singing on the Steps. We’ve also braved every type of weather in our outdoor play and learning from snow to sunshine! Well done, Red Class.

During the holidays, please revisit your eBook collection, focusing on fluency and expression. Please also focus on your individual reading targets issued at parent consultations. Games such as matching pairs, bingo and snap will help you to remember individual letters, digraphs and words. Please look for any reading books at home as we’re missing a few from our sets.

If you would like to spend some time practising your Maths facts, then click here for some mental maths games: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/counting

Alternatively, write 0-10 on post-it notes and try ordering them. Turn over a couple of cards and see if you can work out the missing numbers using your 1 more and 1 less skills. If you’re secure with number order to 10, then work up to 20. Again, find 1 more and 1 less to 20 with the cards and then mentally.

Try to write over the holidays. You might write Easter cards or an Easter shopping list. Use the handwriting pack, sent home earlier in the year, to recap how to form each letter correctly and check your work with the cursive letter mat, sent home last week. If your cursive letter formation is developing well and you’re remembering your lead in and lead out, then begin to reduce the size of your letters.

When we return, after the holidays, the children will start their new afternoon clubs! Red Class will learn alongside older children, visiting new classrooms and meeting new grown-ups. Mrs Edney, Mrs Thomas and Mrs Birley have worked hard to prepare the children for this change. The children will now attend Forest School on different days, depending on their group. They can still wear joggers and trainers on their Forest School Day. Groups can be found on Parent App.

Finally, our next topic will see the children turning into ‘Globe Trotters’. We’ve enjoyed finding out about Redmond’s travels, so now it’s our turn to make a virtual visit! We’ll also be celebrating the King’s Coronation.

Wishing all our families a peaceful Easter full of sunshine, laughter and plenty of chocolate!

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class